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Saturday, April 10, 2010

Lunch Date with Mom at HK Choi

Here's my latest discovery with Mommy during one of our shopping dates in SM Megamall.

Located at the second level of The Atrium, we found HK Choi which is the sister restaurant of Choi Garden, our favorite Chinese restaurant in Annapolis street here in San Juan.

The ambiance looks very formal with mellow Chinese music playing at the background, servers were in the usual Chinese get-up and pretty rotating lanterns on the ceiling are lined up near the window area overlooking EDSA. We were led to one of their comfy couches as we marveled at the beautiful interiors of the restaurant.

In our family, my Mom's the food expert and so she also took care of ordering for the two of us that day.

For starters, Mommy chose the Xiao Long Pao (Php.90). She has always been searching for good Xiao Long Paos here in Manila ever since she tasted the real thing at Din Tai Fung during one of her trips to Singapore. :) For her, the best Xiao Long Pao must still have the soup inside the delicate wrapper. HK Choi's Xiao Long Pao has met her approval despite finding the wrapper a tad too thick for her liking. Personally, I find their Xiao Long Pao a bit small compared to the ones that we would have in other Chinese restaurants.

Next came the Roast BBQ Pork and Soy Chicken Rice Topping (Php. 180). It's a good thing we just got one rice bowl to share. The serving was huge! There's around 5 strips of chicken and pork on top of a bed of fluffy white rice. This one comes with a bowl of egg drop soup which I liked very much.

Lastly, the star of our lunch -- the Fish Brisket with Beancurd on Hotpot (Php. 240). We're big fans of fish on hotpot we both agreed that HK Choi's version is worth going back for again and again. I love how tender the fish was yet it has a slight crunch on the outside. The beancurd was soft and very tasty and the sauce, oh, it was just perfect with my rice. One serving is probably good for a family of 4, so we were even able to bring half of it home for my dad and sister to enjoy.

The service was superb! Very similar to the attentiveness of the servers that we enjoy in their Annapolis branch. We enjoyed our lunch and were already planning when to bring the entire clan for them to try it out too.

HK Choi is located at the 2nd level of The Atrium, SM Megamall, Mandaluyong City.